Tales of a Mars Sentry: Season 2
by ElectroGale
Summary: After TMS Season 1 and Ambition's End comes another anthology of stories about the titan, Zahir-2, and his acquaintances. (For a more detailed archive, private message me)
1. A Runaway's Logs

Log 1

I came to Clovis Bray and became an exo, because I believed in their ingenuity and desire to advance humanity.

I was naïve. They have destroyed my trust.

I've been given a task. To escort an important figure to the Ishtar Sink on Venus. This same man runs heinous operations all throughout the Solar System, making his life easier at the expense of others. I can't stand for a company that would support him.

That's why I've decided to expose Bray. I'll take my briefing and show it to the world. If I can escape Mars, I'll find a terminal that isn't run by their network, and I'll spread the truth.

I'm not insane. I have an ally. My technician, sometimes nurse, Ellie, is helping me secure transit to Earth. She believes in me, and wants to help. If I didn't have the support of a Bray employee, I'd not be doing this.

This is the truth. It is undeniable. Clovis Bray does anything to get what they need, and I don't believe in that. Something needs to be said about it. Good luck, Zahir-2. Zahir-1 out.

Log 2

After carrying out his mission and being reset, Zahir-2 recovered his recording from Ellie, and, with her help, escaped from Clovis Bray. He was to travel along the railways of the Hellas Basin and secure civilian transport to Earth under an alias. As Ellie went about her usual business, minus Zahir's daily checkup, she was approached by a superior.

"Ellie, Zahir-2 has escaped. I need to know if he came here for his tests today."

"He didn't sir, and I've heard about that."

"Ellie, I want a clear answer. Why is Zahir-2 unaccounted for?"

"I don't know, sir."

The officer slammed his palm on the woman's desk, adding to the cacophony of their voices.

"Listen to me, Ellie. If you know anything about this, there'll be consequences. But if you come back with him captured, we can forget about it. Do you understand me?" His tone hinted that he knew she was closer to him than her other patients.

She began to panic. "By all means, sir, I'm a technician. He could be dangerous-"

"Ellie, he trusts you. I have no doubt in my mind you'll be safe and bring him back."

She clutched at her chest. Panic began to rise through her body.

"Ellie, you are one of our brightest. Remember this: I believe in your commitment to our cause. Will you do this for us?" His eyes carried a glare that demanded a response he would be satisfied with.

"Yes, sir."

Log 3

"Ellie? What are you doing?" Zahir put a hand over his eyes to shield them from the beam of light extending from her weapon.

The light shook as Ellie trembled in her uniform. "I'm coming with you. I had no choice. They made me go after you. They must have found out that I helped you somehow. I… I can't do anything else. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Ellie." He waved her down into his hiding spot. "However," he stood up in front of her. "You can capture me and go back to doing your job. I won't hold it against you, because I won't be able to. It seems I pulled you into this, after all."

She shook her head. "No, I'll go with you. It's-"

"Listen, Ellie." He put a hand on her wrist and drew the gun up. "It was your choice to help me, now it's your choice again. Will you help me, and potentially get yourself killed, or will you go back to Bray and live your dreams out?"

"I've decided already. I'm not going back to Bray." She shoved the gun to the exo, sealing their fate.

Log 4

"Zahir!" Ellie yelled, watching as the exo stumbled over, his leg riddled with bullet holes.

"I'm fine, Ellie, it's over." Zahir's rifle was still smoking from the barrel. A Bray employee lay dead in front of him. Their blood mixed cleanly into the red sand of Mars.

"I just wish it didn't have to come to this." She averted her eyes.

"Me neither." Zahir dropped the gun and fell to his arms. "Ellie, I'm getting weaker by the day." An exposed circuit in his torso sparked blue.

"No. No, Zahir, you'll be fine." She opened a toolbag and began to examine the exo's bullet wounds.

"There's nothing that can be done with those tools." He clutched his head, where an eye should have been. He sighed and turned to his companion. "Do you have a paper and pen?"

"Uh, yeah. Why?" She asked, producing the two items from her bag.

He returned a folded note to her. "My parents own a restaurant in Northern Manhattan. They'll understand if you explain everything to them." His voice was calm. "Bray won't care to record my death anywhere. You can run and lie low. They're generous, and will offer you a place to live and work."

"No… this is what you were supposed to do!" She wrapped her arms around the exo. "You can't do this to me!"

"Ellie, I'm finished. You made a choice when you decided to come with me, and it ended up being the wrong one. I'm giving you another chance at life, as it's all I can do for you now."

"I'll make another choice, then." She stood up and took the rifle in her arms. "I'll stay with you until the end."

Log 5

Thus ended the lives of Ellie and Zahir-2. They had managed to escape Bray, but in their weakened state, they were eventually stopped by the elements. Zahir-2 perished in a cave in the Hellas Basin along with Ellie. Over time, the shifting geography and eventual freezing of the area by the Warmind separated their resting places, only to be united by fate centuries later.

We respect the tenacity of the traitor, Zahir-2.

When approaching his parents, do your best to betray your emotions. He was a defector to us, but to them, he was a hard loss to you, them, and the company.

According to our investigations, Zahir-2 and Ellie Fidi were killed by a combination of low supplies and harsh dust storms while escaping, along with bullet wounds received by pursuers.

Inform them that he and his technician were killed in a harsh cave-in during a field test, and express your deep regret in their untimely demise. Inform them that his exo body was unable to be recovered.

Ellie Fidi has no relatives to speak of. She does not exist.

Erase every trace of this file once the parents have been informed.


	2. Fool's Gold

Kale-8 appeared in a dark corridor and was met with a disgusting, indescribable stench.

"This is the thieves' hideout, eh?" He wrinkled his nose. "Sure smells like it…" his voice echoed down the vastness of the abandoned supply station. He could see a few meters ahead of him, but his vision was quickly swallowed by darkness past that.

"There's a control room to your left. I can hit the lights if you get in there." His ghost chimed from within his helmet.

"Alright, guess we're going that way." Kale brought his ghost out to illuminate his walk. As he approached the door, he saw a figure shifting around at its side.

A poorly shaven man in gray casual wear rose and stumbled forward, leaning on the hunter.

"Hey, you… you gotta get outta here. Th-"

"Can it. You're comin' with me." Kale drew his sidearm, knocked the man out with the butt of the gun, and began to allow his ghost to transmat him away.

"I think we should have heard him out." His ghost blinked twice as the transmat finished.

"Pfft. Pirates are all the same. They'd trade your life for a crate of spinfoil. Not even worth questioning." Kale grabbed the handle of the door and wrenched it open. His ghost swept the floor with light, stopping on a motionless pair of feet. Kale froze in place as the light went higher, revealing a horribly scratched, barely clothed, and bloody back.

"Shit. What happened to this guy?" Kale ran forward to the slumped upper body. The dead man's hand covered a switch. He peeled the limb away and flicked it. In an instant, the lights in the room flickered on, and he heard several others engage outside.

"So that's what happened to the lights… but what about this man?" Kale looked back down at the scarred corpse as his ghost scanned the fatal wound.

"These wounds have faint traces of Hive bioenergy."

Kale thought back to the warning he had received from the pirate he transmatted away, and a sickening feeling began to crawl up his throat.

"Hey, get me my hand cannon, and my machine gun while you're at it. Better than this sidearm and my sniper rifle."

"It'll take me a minute to bring the ship around. Hold off until then."

"Gah, curse that thing's close-flying speed."

"Your fault for picking a junker to go around in." The ghost disappeared as a knight armed with a cleaver burst into the control station. It immediately took a swing, but its blade caught on the low ceiling. Kale took the opportunity to blast the entire mag of his sidearm into the knight, reducing its chest armor to a paper-thin, crimson covering. It roared, abandoned its cleaver, and desperately charged toward the hunter, who met it with a knife to the chest, causing the creature to crumble into ash.

Kale fell against the wall as he was battered by falling chitin. He grunted and reloaded his sidearm, not caring to dust himself off.

"Hey, I've got an idea. Scan for any living humans, first." He said as he exited the control room. A pack of thrall noticed him from beyond and began to scramble their way toward him. Their yells and their footfalls against the chitin covered floor did not bother the hunter.

"There's nobody left alive on this station. Only Hive signatures are popping up."

Kale began to annihilate the thrall with his sniper rifle, each falling to its rhythmic cracking with each shot. "Alright. Now, are you able to disengage all of the interior airlocks here?"

"Yes. I should be able to, with the interface I got from that control room."

"Great. Do that." As he finished mouthing his request, he heard the groan of metal doors opening all around him. He began to backpedal to his entrance as he felt his machine gun appear in his hands.

"What's the plan, Kale?" His ghost asked, floating beside his head. The shrieks of Hive in the distance made his voice urgent.

"Bring the ship outside. Right behind us." Kale began to fire into the walls behind him, ripping apart the metal with ease.

"Are you sure about this? I'm not sure if I can fully revive you if you're out there too long. Wait until I can bring the ship closer!"

"No, there won't be any waiting." Kale felt his body being pulled forward by the hole in the wall he had made that lead to the creeping cold of space. In an instant, he was sucked out, along with an intense stream of air. He felt multiple cracks in his ribs and collarbones, and was sure some of his veins had burst. As he floated in the unforgiving vacuum, he watched his ship approaching from beyond.

"This armor isn't fit for space." He thought, as the air in his lungs was immediately swept away by the pressure. His vision began to fade. "Man, this really sucks." He could not groan in pain. "C' mon, just a little closer." He could clearly see his ship. Large. Red. By now, the Hive in the station were likely all dead. And so, his hunt turned extermination was done. He was able to return home with some scolding from his ghost.


	3. 08

The roar of fire and alien gunshots filled the old man's ears. He grimaced as he buckled a reinforced chest plate onto his frail torso as he took one last look around his shop. Militia and expeditionary armor stood on stands everywhere. The polishing booth where he had met so many people, heard so many stories, lay cold in the dead lights of his home.

A woman in robes and a helmet burst in, covered in soot and bullet wounds. She represented one of the only things that confused him in his simple life. One of many who bore the gift of the Traveler. He knew her by a strange name.

"Old man, I heard the distress call. I'm really sorry. I'll defend your settlement at all costs. Do you have ammo?"

He stood and rubbed his eyes. "Truth be told, 14, this town isn't going to last. We have to leave." He gestured to a crate behind the counter of the shop, and she nodded grimly. "Please, fight them off while I round the survivors up. Take whatever you need."

"If we head for the city, a lot of people will die on the way." 14 stocked up on supplies before heading for the door. An explosion of arc energy rocked the street, lighting up the interior of the building.

"If we stay here, there won't be any survivors." The old man equipped himself with a backpack, a sidearm, and stood behind her. "You've done so much for our town, but at the end of the day, it's not the location, it's the people. Please, just keep them off of us while we escape."

She rested her hand on the door frame and sighed. The town was like home to her, too. She loved everyone in it, especially the old man, who had taught her so much. As another explosion sounded in the distance, she swung the door open and began firing.

Eventually, 08 was able to allow most of the civilians to escape. On their pilgrimage to the city, the old man became horribly sick. On his deathbed, they had one final conversation.

"Don't be sad. I had a very nice life." He said, "You know, you still haven't told me your name."

"I don't have a name. I go by my ID."

"Would you be okay with me naming you, as one final gift, 14?"

"Of course. I can trust you with that much."

"Heather. It was my daughter's name. She served in our town's militia, but she fell during an attack not unlike the one you evacuated us from."

"Old man…"

"You remind me so much of her. I am grateful I got to see you grow and change. Please, put the skills I have given you to use, and good luck."

Heather fought with all her might against the red-clad invaders alongside the hunter Kale-8. They were pushed back, farther and farther, until they ended up in the square that her armor shop stood at, which existed because of the inspiration and prowess the old man had passed on.

"Look familiar?" Kale remarked, pointing to the shop. "We can get some more ammo there, right? We're not gonna die like this. Right, Heather?"

Heather looked down at her soot and dirt covered gloves, and the smudged bracers above them. Her ghost had worked hard to restore the armor, but nothing could be done for the particles than invaded their metal.

"I don't know. Let's go inside, though. You're right. We need ammo." The two rushed over, tearing the door open. She loaded herself with rounds and began to step outside.

"Hey, Heather. This is your place, right? You gonna take anything? I mean, you might not see it again." The hunter waved his hand around the dark store, and Heather was reminded of the old man.

"I'll defend this place no matter what. It'll be fine."

As the two continued their struggle outside, Heather saw their friend, Zahir-2, approach from an alleyway. Perhaps they'd be safe, after all.

"Heather!" Kale cried, attempting to push her away. A ring of red light glared at them from above. A Cabal warship had positioned itself over them, and it had already fired a barrage of missiles below.


	4. Holding Over for an Explosion

Kale-8, Zahir-2, and Heather silently snuck into a parked Fallen ketch. It stood calm in the Russian snow, shrouded by the night.

An explosion rocked the silence. A pair of Fallen caches burst into shrapnel, sending a squad of vandals into the air.

"Listen, Kale." Zahir stood in front of the hunter, towering over him. "If we mess this up, the Vanguard will be unhappy, and we won't get paid. We kill this captain without damaging the rest of the caches, and that's final."

"Yeah, whatever." Kale-8 snorted and pulled himself away from the titan.

"Don't you care about how this mission turns out? We have lives. We need to support ourselves."

"Not really, man. I just live in my ship" The hunter inspected his auto rifle before leaping into the rusty, creaky Fallen door in front of him as it groaned open. The sound of arc rounds being fired by the masses echoed within the lair.

"Heather, we have to talk some sense into him. He's going to get himself killed some day. By a Fallen, or Zavala himself." Zahir turned to the warlock with tiredness in his voice.

"I know what you mean, but Kale's only in this to hunt down Tivik. He lives by his own rules. Besides, now we have no choice but to keep going." She sighed and trudged forward. The ringing of a hand cannon was added to the concert of gunfire behind the door.

Zahir followed, grumbling, and immediately made his way toward a cluster of Fallen caches under the bridge where most of the fighting was taking place. He sent Crucius out to begin transmat and stood to defend his ghost.

"Zahir! Little help here?" Kale grunted from above. His pleads were met with the roar of a captain.

As Zahir began climbing up the bridge, he saw a vandal scramble for Crucius below him. "It'll have to wait." He called out, dropping down onto the Fallen and crushing its head with a punch aided by gravity. He drew his shotgun as several more approached him from all sides.

"Zahir!" Kale groaned as the captain pinning him to the wall drew its shock blades. He drew his knife and drove it into the captain's arm, but it did not budge. He looked around for any escape. Explosives. Loose ceiling panels. Anything. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a cluster of Fallen caches being transported away, with Zahir on top of them.

"Damn it, titan." Kale's vision suddenly went dark as the captain's weapon was driven into his side. He felt it scramble up his metal innards and weaken him severely. The Eliksni laughed in delight at his grunts of pain, before it was knocked over by the blast of a sniper rifle. It snarled at Heather as the right horn of its helmet broke off.

"I'll deal with this." Heather drew her hand cannon and began firing at the captain, who warped away to dodge.

"I had it!" Kale pulled himself to his feet with the support of the wall as his ghost healed his wound.

"We all know you didn't." Heather hurled a solar grenade at the captain's destination, and it screeched in pain as it was seared to death. It fell against the metal catwalk they fought on, throwing ash into the air.

Meanwhile, below the platform, Zahir blasted the last vandal approaching him as Crucius finished transmatting the caches.

"Well… that was pretty quick, I'd say. Thanks to me. Can you imagine how long we'd be sitting out there if you were still planning?" Kale held his arm out toward Zahir, who was clambering up the bridge.

"Don't start with me again." Zahir pointed back. "We-" He was quickly eliminated by a well aimed wire rifle shot. His heavily armored body hit the floor just as hard as the captain had.

"What the-" Kale leapt for cover in a small, windowed control room sticking out of the wall at the end of the bridge as he looked in the direction of the shot. When all he saw was a dark. gaping hallway, he ducked back. Heather joined him soon after, with Zahir's ghost in her hands. Behind her helmet, she shot the hunter a glare.

"It's going to take Crucius a while to bring Zahir back. Let's hunker down for now." She said, as footsteps began to sound from beyond.

"Hell no. I'm gonna meet that thing in the middle." Kale drummed his fingers along his knee, and they flared with solar light. He nodded. "Cover me, H, I'm goin' out."

"Hey." Heather grabbed Kale by his cloak before he could step out. A wire rifle shot flew over his now lowered head. "We're staying here until Zahir gets back. Got it?" Her voice carried authority and struck a tiny ounce of fear into the hunter.

"Tch. Fine." Kale slumped back down and picked at his knife.

"You're welcome."

He said nothing. As Zahir reappeared with them, Heather fiddled with her hand cannon.

"Can you get us one of those caches, Zahir? I'm sure the Vanguard won't mind if we lose just one." She asked, swapping her gun's cylinder for a new one. "Explosive rounds. Get the cache as close to those footsteps as you can. When we stun that Fallen, then, Kale, you can gun him down."

"Sounds like a plan." Zahir pulled his ghost out.

"...Sure." Kale continued to drum his fingers on his leg. The flames on his fingers only grew brighter.

Zahir stepped out of cover and bolted for their assailant: an archon sized captain wielding a wire rifle. It did not notice the titan flanking its right, as Heather had stepped out onto the bridge to rain fire with a machine gun. The captain staggered slightly, but was able to teleport to the side at the last second, clear of the freshly placed explosives.

"That's not good!" Kale summoned his golden gun, filling the room with billowing orange light.

"Hold on! We need all three shots!" Zahir stumbled forward and leapt at the captain with all his might, wreathed in arc energy. His fist of havoc shattered the towering foe's shield and sent it into a daze.

"Now!" Heather yelled, and the captain was annihilated by three quick streaks of burning solar light. It faded from bright embers into nothingness, and the hall fell into silence.

Kale dropped his arm. His chest began to fill with excitement, which he forced down after seeing his fireteam regroup.

"Well, titan, you got your dumb caches, and you got to boss people around, warlock. I'm off. Give me as little glimmer as you like." He hopped off the platform and walked off.

"Well, we did it." Zahir sighed as he transmatted the cache away. He looked back at Heather. "You had a really solid plan back there. It didn't work out exactly as you thought, but it was good. Maybe you should be fireteam leader?"

"Maybe. I'm not used to leading. I'm pretty new to Vanguard work as well."

"You are?"

"I mostly compete in the Crucible."

"I see. Well, I'd be fine with listening to your orders. Give it a consideration."

"Sure."


	5. Bow

Her senses flared to life in an instant. She felt as if a rush of air had flown into her body and filled her with energy.

"Agh!" She arched her back, sending her spinning inside the cockpit of the ship she was contained in. "Ah, geez! Where am I? What happened? What's all this?" She grabbed at the chair below her in an attempt to stop her spiraling. As she pulled herself down onto the seat, she caught the single, blue eye of a drone covered in pyramids.

"Uh… hi." The drone whispered, staying directly between her blue skinned face and the stars beyond the windshield of their vessel.

"This takes the cake for "weirdest thing I've seen today." What are you?!"

"I'm the reason you live again, to put it simply."

"Live again? I'm not… wait, who am I?"

"That's not something I know, either. You were dead a long time before I found you."

She chuckled as the ghost floated to the ships console in front of her, striking it with thin beams of blue energy. "Dead? So what am I, a zombie? Huh? Tell me the truth!"

"That is the truth… and, you're not a zombie. You're a regular person. Beyond one, in fact. You're immortal, thanks to me."

"Pfft. No way. Come on, I got amnesia or something, right?" She looked around the ship. It was abandoned. Dead. "That's not true…" Her voice faded as the disrepair of the ship sank in.

The screen before her sparked to life, albeit very dimly. The words "Welcome back, Ascella" could be seen in white before the device fizzled out.

"It's dead. I'm assuming… that's your name. Ascella."

"Ascella…"

"Shall we get to Earth? This ship has enough fuel to land, but that's it."

"Move, hunter!" The warlock yelled, pointing to his right. She wasted no time, scrambling to her healing feet. She heard the simmering bellows of Hive boomer shots overtake her ears, crashing against the ruins surrounding her.

The rest of the warlock's group had moved in, pushing back the swarm. He called out to her again.

"Do you not have a weapon? We could use all the help we can get here." He grunted as two Hive shredder shots pierced his chest.

"Uh, can't say I do. I just got he-." She was interrupted by a sidearm falling into her hands. "All right, I can do this." She took a deep breath and hauled herself up out of cover. An acolyte fell to her shots, and another soon after. Shooting her new gun felt natural to her, as if she'd done it countless times before. Eventually, she and the warlock's team had cleared the horde. The roar of gunfire finally quieted, and she fell to her knees, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Thanks so much. I could've died there." She handed the warlock's gun back.

"Oh, don't thank me. Thank our fireteam leader. He's the one that spotted you." He motioned to a titan clad in orange armor, who was examining the ashes of a knight.

"Uh, thanks." She playfully knocked on the titan's chest. "You really saved my skin there."

"No problem. What were you doing here alone, anyway? This is an extremely dangerous sector." The titan asked, holding his ghost up to scan the area.

"Oh, well, I was brought alive on a ship in orbit, and it was out of fuel, so all we could do was land here."

"In orbit?" A warlock stepped forward and peered at her. "Fascinating! An awoken in orbit around Earth? I wonder what the circumstances leading to this were. There is so much about the awoken I wish to kno-"

"Vira, give her some space, man." A tired sounding hunter grabbed the warlock by the arm and pulled him backwards.

"I'm Zahir-2, and this is my scout team." The titan pointed at his comrades. "That's Lacer, a titan like me. That's Saiph, a Hunter like you, that warlock there is Thuban, and the other warlock is Vira. You said you were awakened yesterday?"

"Yeah, I've mostly been wandering around since, then I got caught up in this mess." She motioned to the Hive remains behind her.

"Another ghost that didn't take a ship…" Zahir rubbed his head. "Come with us. Humanity has a base of operations on Earth, and we can take you there."

"My ghost told me about it. That'd be awesom-" she drifted off and collapsed. She could barely keep her eyes open. In her absence, a blue shelled ghost rose in front of her.

"She hasn't had any nourishment. Needless to say, she's out of energy." The ghost explained, casting a glance back at his guardian. "Also, you can call her Ascella."


	6. Daily Routines

7:20

Zahir wakes up and immediately makes his way to the kitchen. He cooks breakfast and listens to Crucius as he feeds him the news, both city and Vanguard. By the time he has finished packing her lunch, Eltanin comes to the living room to eat, and he joins her.

7:46

Lacer rolls out of bed and performs basic hygiene. He drinks coffee at his desk as Jolt looks for any jobs the scout team can take. A suspicious, yellowing envelope with a large red seal arrives at his apartment, and he throws it out.

Zahir sees Eltanin to work, and heads to the tower to prepare for patrol.

8:13

Lacer calls the scout team together for a scout report request on Titan. He remembers he still has to file the last one, and gets to it.

Zahir runs into an acquaintance at the tower, and they catch up.

8:25

Zahir leaves the tower for patrol in the EDZ.

Lacer sends his reports to the Vanguard and arrives at the tower to gather with his team.

10:12

Lacer calls Eltanin and asks her if Hive worms eat anything. She politely asks him not to mess with any worms he comes across.

Zahir encounters a hunter patrolling the same area, and they decide to check on an assumedly abandoned Cabal outpost.

10:31

Lacer calls Eltanin again, saying he'll never disregard her advice ever again.

11:53

With the help of the hunter, Zahir takes down an extremely bold colossus, who had been holed up in the outpost since the Red War ended, cut off from communication and uninformed of the Red Legion's defeat.

13:17

Lacer's team sits at the edge of an oil rig to eat lunch. Ascella complains that their spot is too close to the methane and that it smells.

13:48

Zahir and the hunter part ways after confirming that the outpost is now indeed abandoned.

Lacer learns of a minor Hive infestation near one of the Arcology's main power generators.

14:36

Lacer's team arrives at the generator and begins engaging the Hive. He thinks about how he can impress Ascella, oblivious to the fact that she is doing the same.

Zahir takes note of a fairly large Fallen camp south of the Winding Cove.

14:57

Zahir wraps up patrol and heads to his part-time job as a chef for a saloon in the city.

Lacer's team comes upon a massive knight, and he's reminded of the last time he had to deal with one. He strongly advises his team against using swords against the colossal beast.

16:04

Lacer wraps up his mission and heads to the Derelict to compete in his scheduled Gambit match.

Zahir escorts a disruptive patron out of the saloon.

16:23

Lacer loses 15 motes after being pushed into the path of a Cabal phalanx by his "teammate."

16:39

Being a pair of warlocks with the ability of chaos reach, Lacer's teammates surprise him by quickly burning down the primeval in the final round, and they win the match.

17:11

Lacer arrives at his home and begins "filing scout reports." In reality, he's playing a video game while calling Ascella.

19:32

Zahir wraps up his shift and heads to the supermarket.

20:05

Zahir begins preparing dinner.

20:43

Lacer finally begins filing his report.

Zahir gives Eltanin her dinner and goes to his study to work.

20:57

Lacer arrives at Zahir's apartment, asking for help with his scout report.

21:34

Zahir sends Lacer off with a finished report. He goes to the living room to watch the news and surf through Vanguard reports.

23:19

Lights out at Zahir's apartment.

1:03

Lacer goes to sleep.


	7. Fireteam Taurus Part 1

All was quiet at the base of the Vex Citadel on Venus. Plantlife rustled gently in the wind, creating shadows against the orange sunlit dirt. The occasional goblin or harpy strolled outside to scan the surroundings, perhaps looking for incoming enemy forces, but none came.

None came, until two warlocks, unfamiliar with each other, were pushed back to back by waves of advancing Vex.

"They bothering you, too?" A female warlock called to an unresponsive male. "Suit yourself. I'm almost pissed beyond words too!" She lashed out at an advancing goblin, reducing it to void particles. "What's their deal? They've been after me for hours!"

The other warlock nodded in sympathy. "My name is Procyon." He continued taking down Vex one by one with a hand cannon.

"Auva. Auva-11." She snorted as they began to be pushed back toward the Citadel. "Now you speak?" A trio of slap rifle shots hit her shoulder, forcing her to take cover behind a rock. He did not respond as he ducked down with her."Seriously. Talk. You have a good voice, but you're acting kinda creepy." A torch hammer blasted the rock, knocking her forward. She grunted, furious, and void energy began to crawl around her entire body.

"That's it, you sons of bitches!" she leaped into the air and thrust her arm forward. Tendrils of void light snaked from her core down her arm, knitting themselves into a massive ball of writhing destruction. It rocketed toward the horde of Vex and detonated, reducing them from dozens to few. As the dust cleared, though, a previously unseen cloud oh Vex energy sparked, and a massive minotaur filtered itself into existence, piece by piece. The voidwalker grumbled and began tearing into its torso with a machine gun. It analyzed her proximity to it, as she had just closed in to launch her nova bomb, and smacked her into a wall with its spindly, metallic arm.

Procyon frowned, taking in the situation. Several smaller Vex had entered the fray, and they were cornered at the entrance to the citadel. There was no way out, except…

The warlock burst forward with a glide and caught Auva with one of his arms. He thrust his other out and fired a continuous stream of arc energy from his palm, minimizing the number of projectiles headed his way. He finally rounded a corner, and the alien gunfire finally stopped. Finally healed, Auva shook her head and took her surroundings in with newly restored vision."Gah!" She pushed herself away from Procyon. "Who said you had to help me? And that we could leave those guys alone?" She stepped out of cover and aimed at the Vex with her auto rifle. She dumped half of her magazine into the large minotaur but was met with no response. The Vex stood at the foot of the citadel. Watching.

Procyon stepped out behind her, tilting his head in confusion at the sight.

"The hell are they doing? Hey!" Auva fired another bullet, this time at a lone goblin. Her attempt to rouse them from their apparent trance yielded nothing.

A finger tapped her shoulder.

"Quit touching me! You want to die?" Auva whipped around to see Procyon pointing toward the hallway behind them. Destroyed Vex chassis littered the ground, creating a sea of bronze.

"This-" Auva locked back and forth between the Vex and the bodies of their fallen. One more look, and she spotted Procyon walking on. "Hey! Who said you were calling the shots? Wait!" She ran to catch up to him, keeping an eye on their previous assailants. They continued to stand motionless.

Procyon motioned what seemed to be a sigh with his shoulders, and the two warlocks walked deeper into the Vex construct. The chassis continued to lay along the path, all the way to the lift that would take one to the top of the Citadel.

As they reached the top, they felt a sort of mugginess come over them.

"Ugh. I feel sticky all of a sudden." Auva complained, leaping forward to set herself on the Vex platforms. Procyon followed close behind. Halfway through the track, the pair heard sounds of combat in the distance.

A hunter in deep green fought off waves and waves of Vex, expertly wielding a scout rifle and a shotgun. He jumped from spire to spire, making full use of his light. Burning grenades and knives peppered his enemies as he moved by. He stopped for nothing, continuing to thin the herds.

Procyon and Auva approached, finishing off the last of the Vex to aid the hunter. Vex clouds stopped appearing, and the Vex were wiped out.

The hunter walked toward the two, strapping his scout rifle to his back.

"Thanks for the help there, you two! I was startin' to get tired, haha." He walked ever so casually.

Auva shook her head. "No problem! Looks like you had it all under control, though.""Hmm. Maybe I did. It's the notion that counts, warlock. I'm Altair." He held his hand out to greet them.

"Auva." She looked over at Procyon, who remained silent, and smacked the back of his head.

"Procyon." He answered immediately, stumbling forward.

"Uh, did you take out all those Vex back there?" Auva pointed behind her, gesturing to the rest of the Citadel.

"Me? Nah, never. Only the ones on this here platform." Altair spread his hands out over the space they stood on, which was littered with at least a hundred Vex itself.

"That's still a ton…" Auva thought, examining the aftermath of the hunter's battle. As her eyes traced back to Altair, a few thin wisps of smoke caught her eye. Slightly shocked, her eyes trailed up to see the faint outline of a minotaur.

Procyon drew his hand cannon and aimed next to the hunter's head, but it was too late. The taken minotaur that had managed to sneak up on the trio had already swung its arm down onto Altair, cleaving into the hunter's shoulder.


	8. Fireteam Taurus Part 2

Altair gasped in pain as the taken minotaur's clenched hand split his clavicle in half. The shivering beast quickly uncloaked as a side effect of its attack, revealing its sickly black form.

Procyon, who had already been aiming, fired his hand cannon at the taken's head, reducing it to a puddle of dark energy while Auva struggled to ready her auto rifle.

Procyon moved over to Altair, helping the hunter stand up. His ghost quickly worked on healing his shoulder as the guardians heard the hollow roaring of taken rifts around them.

"Great. Who invited these slimy losers up here?" Auva attacked the varying ranks of taken appearing on the citadel. Darkness began to cloud the area like a thick fog. The taken began to blend into the clouds, their only distinguishing features being their glowing white eyes.

As they began to amass into several tens, Auva turned to her new companion. "Got a plan, Procyon?"

In response, the warlock nodded, turned around, and began running back the way they came.

"I see no reason not to trust him!" Altair ran as well, prompting an annoyed Auva to comply.

"I thought Oryx died, like, a week ago!" She mowed down the taken thrall approaching their flanks, sending them warping and screaming before their glowing orange claws could get anywhere near her.

"He did." Procyon answered, elbowing a thrall aside.

Altair leaped down the lift, and the warlocks followed. They did not notice the massive shadow passing over their escape route as they descended.

The trio tumbled onto the ground level, gasping for breath.

"Agh. What the hell was that?" Auva wiped dust off of the front of her helmet, sputtering uselessly.

"That, my friend, was a fight we could not win. Good call, warlock." Altair slapped Procyon on the back.

"Y'all are scaredy cats. Someone has to wipe those taken out, and fast…" she trailed off, looking behind the other two guardians.

"Hm?" Altair turned around to see a massive Vex hydra looking down on them with its glaring red eye. It barely fit between in the narrow walls of the citadel. His ghost identified the machine as "Damocles, Frenzied Mind."

Procyon immediately began running.

"Looks like we're high tailing it again! Away!" Altair followed suit.

"No! I'm tired of running!" Auva turned to face the slow moving hydra. It roared as it pelted the area with its torch hammers, shattering rock and kicking up dust. She began to surge with void energy, and she leapt up into the air. In response, Damocles began spinning its transparent shields rapidly, until, eventually, it was encased in a cylinder of protection. Auva launched her nova bomb, which fizzled out quite anticlimactically against the shield, only yielding a smaller explosion than desired.

"Run, Auva!" Altair called out, taking a glance over his shoulder. "Oh, wait." At the sight of the now immobile hydra, he stopped, pulling on Procyon's shoulder as well.

While now indestructible, Damocles had sacrificed its mobility and offense for safety. It hovered in the air, its shield still crackling around its chassis.

"Hah! Not so tough now, are ya? Let's drop a rock on it or something." Auva paced around the frozen hydra. Damocles' eye followed the warlock's movements.

Procyon nudged Altair as he moved toward Damocles as well, shaking his head.

"What?" The hunter asked, "seems harmless to me."

Damocles' eye darted to the cautious warlock, and it immediately screeched, causing Auva to stumble back.

"It wanted us close." Procyon drew his hand cannon and aimed at the Vex clouds beginning to surround the hydra. Three minotaurs dropped onto the ground, but instead of fighting, they used their bulky frames to lift the hydra. Their arms passed through the shield like nothing was there, and they began to march away.

"Hey!" Auva lifted her auto rifle to shoot, but was immediately attacked by a shadowy thrall. The taken had caught up. The three hurriedly escaped the Citadel, and had failed to learn anything of importance, other than the fact that the Taken had completely taken over the Vex structure.


	9. Son(& ANNOUNCEMENT)

"I wish I could do something for my guardian." The ghost thought, hovering behind her guardian.

"I finally… found..." A hunter dressed in deep blue stumbled to his knees in front of a crudely marked grave. His fingers twitched, and he breathed heavily as the landscape of smoke and stars blended together with water in his eyes. He let out a shattered, uncontrollable wail as he clawed viciously at the ground, dislodging the wind rocket, the last trace of the despicable Phoros-5. He held the weapon tight, as it seemed to comfort him.

"But… who killed him?" He took his helmet off to clear his eyes, then lifted his hand. His ghost floated forward, and she spun while expanding her shell to scan the area. She soon returned, and he slipped his helmet back on to examine the feed.

"Fallen guns?" The hunter blinked, then began to laugh uncontrollably. "Ha! Fallen... killing Phoros? Bahahahaha! That... didn't happen!"

He regained his composure and narrowed his eyes. Spite began to feel his throat as wheels turned in his brain.

"No way it was Fallen..." His knuckles grew white under his gloves as he squeezed the knife on his belt. "No way! I'll find you… kill you!" He began to stab wildly at the ground in anger, creating marks around the grave.

"Who did it…? Tell me..." He asked, yelling at his ghost. "Tell me!" His breath was shaking. His ears pounded. All he wanted to know was what had happened.

"R-right." The ghost sighed. An eternity of pain was hidden behind her voice. "Van net says a titan named Zahir-2 eliminated Tivik, Guardian Killer, after the Eliksni was Taken. There's more to the report, but nothing on Phoros…"

"No...thing?"

"Please, don't take it the wrong way. Phoros was exiled. The Vanguard just doesn't want to doc-"

"Ohh… I get it… they, blue man, sent the titan… to kill master… I seeeeeee." The hunter's eyes narrowed as he looked up into Io's beautiful sky. "City. Let's go… there…"

ANNOUNCEMENT: Sorry for the unannounced hiatus, but I'll have to take another. I'm planning my next story: Sons of Phoros. If you'd like more details or would like to stay updated, DM me please!


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